KIT cAT CLUB

Kit Cat Club started back in August 2012 with five children aged 5 - 11, we now have 30 aged 5 - 14, some we have lost along the way (we have over the years probably seen some 60 children). We run every Thursday in the school holidays and to start with the team of volunteers who supported this venture came from the House Group I attend, however, as the number of children we cater for has grown, so too has our volunteer helper pool, we currently have around 15 helpers to call on, we usually require a minimum of 10 and obviously not everyone can do each session.

You may be aware that Kit Cat Club was set-up on the way God spoke to me, following my housegroup's study on 'Is there really poverty in Great Britain today'. Following the course I heard an article on Radio 5 Live about the struggles of families in school holidays where children who received Free School Meals could often go without in the long summer break. I felt I was being challenged by God to see if there was a need for families/children in our community to receive support and I met with the School Nursing Team and Public Health Nurse for Buckingham and surrounding villages, who advised that there was a definite need and so Kit Cat Club was born (when I was growing up, a Kit Kat bar was advertised with the slogan "Have a break, have a Kit Kat" and this is actually what we are trying to achieve for both the children and their families.

I have been wholeheartedly supported by my connect group but most importantly we see God at work in the lives of these children. The children come for varying reasons, but they are all referred to us as being 'in need'. It is not a club that is open to the general public, they are all referred to us by the Public Health and School Nursing Teams and so this is most definitely an 'outreach' programme reaching families who have a real need. We have been able to feed some of the children into Messy Church, Explorers (formerly Heroes) and a number attend Blaze. Last year we managed to send seven children to Bitternes Afloat over the Easter holidays.